We have baby chickens - my father-in-law told us in the south they call them "bitties".  It has been fun watching the mom's at work.  There has been 4 hens sitting on this MOUND of Eggs - it seemed that with the weather and time that perhaps they had died.  Nope!  Each day another is born - it is so cool.  We are up to 7!

After so many days one of the 3 has brought the babies out of the coop and is training them to eat and drink - How could anyone believe in random chance or evolution?  IT is a total miracle - some of the babies did die and the moms buried them in the hay..... 

My mom was here from NJ and we spent 2 days sitting and watching them - it is just fascinating.  I had done an embryology project a way back and it was so cool to learn but watching the moms with the babies is an amazing experience!!!

Blessings,

Flossie

Ah my dear friends, I wish I could tell in better words than this how great God is.   I hear people refer to him or following him, as being spiritual.  It is so much more than that!  Lay aside rules, protocol and just bask in the glory of God.  He made you and he made all the beautiful things around you.  He delights in you and he loves you.  He created you and knows what his purpose for you is.  Do you have a favorite craft?  Do you know the feeling of making something - first it's in the mind and then when it comes to fruition... oh the feeling.  I love to step back and look and marvel because I can't believe I did it.  Can you imagine how God must have felt when he made you.  He designed you - your eye coloring, your hair, your nose, etc.  Then he gave you talents and a personailty.  How he delighted on the day He created you!

Have you ever made something and you are just thrilled with it?  Then someone comes along and they misuse it for the wrong purpose?  What about when you cherish something and someone ridicules it?  Can you imagine how God must feel when we do that?

This is not a soap box but thoughts running through my head.  Someone will read this and I know you needed to hear this.  God loves you!  Pure and simple!  you can never work hard enough or achieve enough to have Him love you.  He already does.  He loves you, He created you and He made you special for Him.  He delights in you.  You please him.  go look in that mirror and remember you are a creation of God.  Don't let the world tell you who you are but marvel at the Creator's creation - You!

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Wonderful day - learning to slow down and God blesses me!  The kids got their chickens in the fair.  They were small this year and just made weight.  It was fun to walk around and see other friends I have not seen in a long time!

Have a Blessed Day or Night - whereever you are in this world!

Blessings,

Flossies

 I really have been bad lately and not kept up with my blog.  Sorry!  I have quickly added a few devotions but the inner me is not there :)  We have been running sooooo crazy.  I think we have been too involved this year and in the month of May, everything seems to come to a head!  I am barely keeping my head above water but we are finishing all the tasks.  Tonight was the last meeting for 4-H and Record books were due.  It is a lot of work... they also had elections - my two were Historian and Recording Secretary... Guess What?  Yep - Vice President and Treasurer next!

I am very proud of my kids and they have grown so much, it is just all coming to a head and I can't wait for SUMMER!!!!

Anyway, I pray that all is well in your neck of the woods.  We have tilled the soil and I need to get my garden in - yes, I know it is late but....

Also, I am learning to can and tomatoes of every variety and recipe is my goal (Pray I have a bumper crop)!!!

Blessings,

Flossie

I have had the flu for the past two days.  Of course this has slowed me down but I usually push myself... My husband was away and so it goes.  Tonight we have our youth group and I decided to stay home and rest.  I am glad I did - still not feeling up to par. 

As I walked around my house, I thought how beautiful and peaceful it is.  It is my HOME.  I have not felt like home anywhere for so long.  Life has had its ups and downs.  People I loved weren't there for me and so it goes.  But I feel at home.

I have a wonderful husband whom I love more each day.  He loves me uncondtionally the way I am - round and all.  He loves me for who I am and not for what others think.  He does not look at me and think of who I use to be but who I am and it is an amazing feeling.

I have 3 wonderful children who love me.  I love them too.  They like being with me and truly like me and my personality.  How blessed of a feeling that is.

I have some of the silliest and funniest animals.  They love me too,  It is such a good feeling to walk around and have them follow me.  Animals are not liek humans - thye read your heart and actiosn.

May you be so blessed.  May you be surrounded by love and sweet ACCEPTANCE.  May you be loved for who you are and all God created you to be.

Blessings,

Flossie

WE are looking into purchasing a Cashmere Goat?  Why?  Just because :)  This is how the funny farm grows.  My son was interested in them but we did not purchase a year ago because they were out of our price range.  We saw one on Craigslist for a reasonable price and are going for it.  So... I need info about if you have.  Also, I am a practical gal and would love to know anything about their wool,etc.

Blessings my sisters,

Flossie

The other day I asked prayers fro my friend Laurie who lost her sister.  Today, I am asking prayers for my friend Lauren and her family.  She lives in NJ and her father died this morning.  He was only 67.

Thanks.

Some good tips.

Bananas

• Peel a banana from the bottom and you won't have to pick the little stringy things' off of it. That's how the primates do it.
• Take your bananas apart when you get home from the store. If you leave them
  connected at the stem, they ripen faster.
• Store your opened chunks of cheese in aluminum foil. It will stay fresh much
  longer and not mold!

Peppers

• Peppers with 3 bumps on the bottom are sweeter and better for eating.
• Peppers with 4 bumps on the bottom are firmer and better for cooking.

This and That

• Add a teaspoon of water when frying ground beef. It will help pull the
  grease away from the meat while cooking.
• To really make scrambled eggs or omelets rich add a couple of spoonfuls of
  sour cream, cream cheese, or heavy cream in and then beat them up.
• For a cool brownie treat, make brownies as directed. Melt Andes mints in
  double broiler and pour over warm brownies. Let set for a wonderful minty
  frosting.
• Add garlic immediately to a recipe if you want a light taste of garlic and
  at the end of the recipe if your want a stronger taste of garlic.
• Leftover snickers bars from Halloween make a delicious dessert. Simply chop
  them up with the food chopper. Peel, core and slice a few apples. Place them
  in a baking dish and sprinkle the chopped candy bars over the apples. Bake
  at 350 for 15 minutes!!! Serve alone or with vanilla ice cream.

1. Reheat Pizza
Heat up leftover pizza in a nonstick skillet on top of the stove, set heat to med-low and heat till warm. This keeps the crust crispy. No soggy micro pizza. I saw this on the cooking channel and it really works.

2. Easy Deviled Eggs
Put cooked egg yolks in a zip lock bag. Seal, mash till they are all   broken up. Add remainder of ingredients, reseal, keep mashing it up mixing thoroughly, cut the tip of the baggy, squeeze mixture into egg. Just throw bag away when done easy clean up.

3. Expanding Frosting

 When you buy a container of cake frosting from the store, whip it with your mixer for a few minutes. You can double it in size.  You get to frost more cake/cupcakes with the same amount. You also eat less sugar and calories per serving.

4. Reheating refrigerated bread

 - To warm biscuits, pancakes, or muffins that were refrigerated, place them in a microwave with a cup of water. The increased moisture will keep the food moist and help it reheat faster.

5. Newspaper weeds away
Start putting in your plants, work the nutrients in your soil. Wet newspaper, put layers around the plants overlapping as you go cover with mulch and forget about weeds. Weeds will get through some gardening plastic they will not get through wet newspapers.

6. Broken Glass
Use a wet cotton ball or Q-tip to pick up the small shards of glass you can't see easily.

7. No More Mosquitoes (or nats) - Place a dryer sheet in your pocket. It will keep the mosquitoes away.

8. Squirrel Away!
To keep squirrels from eating your plants sprinkle your plants with cayenne pepper. The cayenne pepper doesn't hurt the plant and the squirrels won't come near it.

9. Flexible vacuum-  To get something out of a heat register or under the fridge add an empty paper towel roll or empty gift wrap roll to your vacuum. It can be bent or flattened to get in narrow openings.

10. Reducing Static Cling
Pin a small safety pin to the seam of your slip and you will not have a clingy skirt or dress. Same thing works with slacks that cling when wearing panty hose. Place pin in seam of slacks and -- ta da! -- static is gone.

11. Measuring Cups
Before you pour sticky substances into a measuring cup, fill with hot water.  Dump out the hot water, but don't dry cup. Next, add your ingredient, such  as peanut butter, and watch how easily it comes right
out.

12. Foggy Windshield?
Hate foggy windshields? Buy a chalkboard eraser and keep it in the glove box of your car. When the windows fog, rub with the eraser! Works better than a cloth!

13. Reopening envelope
If you seal an envelope and then realize you forgot to include something inside, just place your sealed envelope in the freezer for an hour or two. Viola! It unseals easily.

14. Conditioner
Use your hair conditioner to shave your legs. It's cheaper than shaving  cream and leaves your legs really smooth. It's also a great way to use up  the conditioner you bought but didn't like when you tried it
in your hair...

15. Goodbye Fruit Flies
To get rid of pesky fruit flies, take a small glass fill it 1/2' with Apple Cider Vinegar and 2 drops of dish washing liquid, mix well. You will find those flies drawn to the cup and gone forever!

16. Get Rid of Ants
Put small piles of cornmeal where you see ants. They eat it, take it 'home,' can't digest it so it kills them. It may take a week or so, especially if it rains, but it works & you don't have the worry about pets or small children being harmed!

17. INFO ABOUT CLOTHES DRYERSThe heating unit went out on my dryer! The gentleman that fixes things around the house for us told us that he wanted to show us something and he went over to the dryer and pulled out the lint filter. It was clean. (I always clean the lint from the filter after every load clothes.)  He told us that he wanted to show us something; he took the filter over to the sink, ran hot water over it. The lint filter is made of a mesh material - I'm sure you know what your dryer's lint filter looks like. well,...the hot water just sat on top of the mesh! It didn't go through it at all! He told us that dryer sheets cause a film over that mesh that's what burns out the heating unit. You can't SEE the film, but it's there.  It's what is in the dryer sheets to make your clothes soft and static free -- that nice fragrance too, you know how they can feel waxy when you take them out of the box, well t his stuff builds up on your clothes and  on your lint screen. This is also what causes dryer units to catch fire & potentially burn your house down with it! He said the best way to keep your dryer working for a very long time (& to keep your electric bill lower) is to take that filter out & wash it with hot soapy water & an old toothbrush (or other brush) at least every six months. He said that makes the life of the dryer at least twice as long! How about that!?! Learn something new everyday! I certainly didn't know dryer sheets would do that. So, I thought I'd share! Note: I went to my dryer & tested my screen by running water on it. The water ran through a little bit but mostly collected all the water in the mesh screen. I washed it with warm soapy water & a nylon brush & I had  it done in 30 seconds. Then when I rinsed it the water ran right Thru the screen! There wasn't any pudding at all! That repairman knew what he was talking about!

For 10 days over Christams we were blessed to have an exchange student from Japan visit us.  He is a 19 year old boy who is a Senior in High School.  I was nervous because I did not know if he would blend well and we did not know ANY Japanese.  But as usual I jumped in with both feet at this experience (I have found that for me, that is when God greatly blesses us). 

My heart fills with great joy when I think on this young man.  In just 10 short days he became forever part of our hearts and our family.  He left over a month ago and we have not heard from him until today.  I received a text message that he is writing and to wait a few days!  Yippee!!! 

Not much point to this, other than to share.  This young man came from a large city and stayed with us.  He rode our tractor and played with dogs and cats.  He helped work on my son's chicken coop and visited large extended families with us.  We gave him gifts and just shared time with him.  We shared a lot of joy and laughs.  His first time ever going to a church was with us and our prayer is that the seeds that were planted in his heart will grow for the Lord.

If ever you have an opportunity to do this - please do.  It was a wonderful experience.  We have friends who have done for over 20 years and have always enjoyed.  They say sometimes you make a bond and sometimes you don't... well we gained a family member.  My children grew in their acceptance of others and their view of the world.

Please pray for my Japanese son Kazuki and his faith in JEsus!

Blessings,

Flossie

Well, it is rainy and cold here in "sunny California" - lol.  We actually live in the Northern area and it is definitely not the place portrayed on t.v.  My daughter and I are trying to get our list together for the week for meals.  As we were going through cookbooks that I had not looked at in forever, I came across a recipe from my step-grandmother.  Oh what a treasure!  It is in her handwriting.  My grandma Ruth was from Canada and she had these desserts she made.  The only problem in recreating them is that there is an ingredient that she could only find in Cananda.  She once told me that she tried using other brands but it never turned out right.

Does anyone know where I can find "Bird's Custard Powder" and also "Scotch Mints".  When relatives would go to Vancouver they would buy them for her.  If you know of a place I could order online that would be wonderful!

In my digging I also found a book from my Nana. It is dated 1932 and has her handwriting in it.  It is titled "Home Economics".  It has so much information in it !  She would have been around 12.  There is how to clean a house, cook, etc.  Looking forward to anything I find interesting. 

Have a blessed Saturday.  I am cleaning the kitchen, the pantry, menu planning and then grocery shopping.  But for now, I am going to enjoy tea with my hubby and kids and watch "Gods and Generals" - part of a unit study we are doing on the civil war.

Blessings,

Flossie

I am sitting here perusing recipes and trying to put together my shopping list/weekly menu.  I was thinking about yesterday and what a great day it was.  We are blessed to go to a church where we have an amazing Youth Pastor - he calls himself teacher.  The program we attend is not typical by any means.  Mark is the Pastor over our 5th and 6th graders.  He has a 2 year program in which nothing repeats.  He delves deeply into God's word and challenges youth to live out their faith.  He is remarkable.  My oldest went through his program and now my daughter.  I just wanted to share.  I am not impressed with 99% of the programs out there and usually they seem like a "safe" babysitter and nothing more.

Currently he is doing a series on spiritual gifts with the youth.  We have been talking about what they are and how to identify.  Next, we are talking about how to apply.  He challenges them to take steps toward future goals.  Next week we will have several stations where parents with different gifts will teach on those.  The youth will rotate to the one that pertains to them.

Have a Blessed Day!

Balancing life....

We awoke today to fog.  Now if I still lived in other parts of the country this would be normal.  But in our area it is very unusual.  The kids are excited and can't believe how much you can't see!  It is thick as Pea Soup! 

We are trying to get ourselves back into the home school mode.  With the holidays and various competitions the kids have been in, it has been a slow process.  Anyone else in that mode?  But then I have to remember that His mercies are new every morning!  That today as foggy as it is will be a glorious day! 

I have perusing this website and there is so many special ladies out there.  I am amazed at all the helpful hints.  So much inspiration!  I am trying to get a handle on the money that I control and those bills.  Food seems to be a never ending source of drainage on the budget.  I am trying to make a menu each week and then follow.  I am trying to get my kids to understand that we don't buy until the following week on grocery shopping day.  I think it is worth the struggle.  I like to come up with a "casserole" or I call them medleys of leftover items to create a new dish and stretch us further.  I do have one very picky child and I have tried all the "theories".  I would love to hear any suggestions. 

I am trying to follow "Kosher" - I guess you would call it.  Actually, I am revisiting biblical eating principles.  I have cut out all pork and am now trying not to eat meat and dairy together.  If anyone has recipes or are on a similar path, I would love to hear from you.  Because of health issues, I am trying to find healthy ways of healing.

My next path is learning more about gardening and preserving.  I have learned to can a little and got a dehydrator for Christmas!  Yeah!

Just rambling.  There must be fog in my head today also :) 

Well, I have been perusing the blog world for awhile and thought I would start my own.  I chose the homestead blog site because my heart has always wanted to be a homesteader.  Living in the country and off the land.  I had dreams of meeting a cowboy and off we go.  Well, I do live on three acres in the center of suburbia.  I did marry my dream man - a cowboy wanna be and so our story begins... 

I have three children, 2 dogs, cats and chickens.  We fondly call our "estate" the Funny Farm.  God has richly blessed us with humor and animated animals all over the place.